Known bicycle control devices comprise a support body suitable for being fixed close to or at a handgrip portion of the bicycle handlebars and carrying one or more manual actuation members, of the lever type, namely actuated by a rotary movement, or of the button type, namely actuated with a linear movement, actuatable with a finger or with plural fingers to issue commands to bicycle pieces of equipment, such as a brake, a derailleur or a so-called cycle computer.
In the present description and in the attached claims, the expression “bicycle control device for issuing at least one command” or briefly “control device” shall refer to a control device capable of issuing one or more electrical-electronic and/or mechanical commands to one or more pieces of electrical-electronic and/or mechanical and/or pneumatic equipment of the bicycle, such as a derailleur, a brake, a cycle computer, and similar.
Bicycle control devices, provided with a so-called clicking mechanism, which has the purpose of providing the cyclist with a tactile and/or acoustic feeling of the successful actuation of a command, are known in the art.
US 2014/0208888 A1 discloses a bicycle control device comprising a base member, a first manual actuation member, a second manual actuation member, and a clicking mechanism. The base member is configured to be attached to the bicycle, and the first and second manual actuation members are movably supported on the base member between respective rest and operated positions. The clicking mechanism includes a first part configured to contact projections formed in the first or in the second actuation member as the first or the second actuation member moves from the rest position to the operated position, and a second part pivoted on the base member through a first pin. The first part is pivoted on the second part through a second pin. A first spring is arranged between the second part and the base member, and a second spring is arranged between the first part and the second part.
Upon actuation of the first or second actuation member, the first part of the clicking mechanism rotates about the first pin and contacts the protrusions of the first or second actuation member. Consequently, during such movement, the first part of the clicking mechanism remains stationary with respect to the second part, since such first and second parts rotate together with respect to the first pin.
Upon release of the first or second actuation member, the first part of the clicking mechanism rotates about the second pin. Consequently, during such movement, the first part moves with respect to the second part about the second pin.
EP 1 964 762 A2 discloses a control device for a bicycle comprising a brake lever to control a mechanical brake by means of a traction cable, a gearshifting lever, arranged behind the brake lever, to control an electro-mechanical derailleur in one direction, for example towards a toothed wheel having a larger diameter (upward gearshifting) and a pair of switches, one to control the electro-mechanical derailleur in a second direction, for example towards a toothed wheel having a smaller diameter (downward gearshifting), and the other one to input commands into a cycle computer.
The gearshifting lever and the buttons act on respective electro-mechanical switches, of the microswitch type, each including a dome-shaped deformable diaphragm. In order to switch the switches, an elastic actuation head, actuated by the respective lever or by the respective button, faces the deformable diaphragm in the rest condition of the lever or button, and acts by pushing on the deformable diaphragm in the actuation condition of the lever or button.
In particular, upon actuation of the lever or button, the elastic actuation head compresses and starts to exert a pressure onto the dome-shaped deformable diaphragm, which deforms. The deformation of the diaphragm generates a tactile feeling, which is transferred and felt by the cyclist's fingers resting upon the lever or button.
The technical problem at the basis of the present invention is that of increasing the tactile and/or acoustic feeling provided to the cyclist by the clicking mechanism of a control device.